With the beginning of the cotton season (October 2009 – September 2010), the textile industry desires that the domestic cotton prices will remain lower than the international prices, giving the industry a competitive edge in the export market.

The country expects a huge production of cotton this year (305 lakh bales) and the carry over stock was also high at 71 lakh bales. The Central government increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton by almost 40% last year. It has maintained the MSP at the same level this year. Last year, the Cotton Corporation of India and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India purchased about 127 lakh bales. Trade and industry sources said that the CCI was expected to be a major player in the market this year.

The textile mills were expected to start buying cotton from the third week of October 2009. The domestic prices should be lower than the international prices and should remain stable throughout the year.

According to K.N. Viswanathan, Secretary of the South India Cotton Association, cotton arrivals from Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka had started with about 20,000 bales coming to the market every day.  Currently, the domestic cotton prices were slightly lower than the international prices and export enquires were said to be good.